In the United States, Chumbawamba will always be remembered as the band who had a single hit in the 1990s with that “get knocked down” song, which isn’t that bad of a thing, actually; as far as Billboard-charting tracks that you’ve heard 1,539 times go, “Tubthumping” is endlessly fun and bizarrely complex. But elsewhere in the world, they’re known as a beloved anarchist pop-punk band, with hints of folk and techno, that released 14 full-length albums between 1986-2010. For instance, did you know that in 1994, they put out a record called Anarchy, which not only featured such songs as “Homophobia” and “Mouthful of Sh*t,” but also a graphic album cover showing a baby coming out of a vagina? Reducing Chumbawamba to a single song is reductive and unfair.
BUT WHAT A SONG IT IS, and last night in Oslo, Norway, during the group’s final concert, Chumbawamba played (an acoustic version of) “Tubthumping” one last time. It’s unlikely they’ll get back together any time soon, to sing songs that remind them of the good times, but at least we still have Savage Gard — they WHAT?!?
/doesn’t get back up again
